Monday, February 13th 2012
Keeper and Diva cups. And yes, I recommend you try them! Image by Greencolander on flickr.
As many of you have already heard, I was a guest on Skeptically Speaking a few weeks ago, on the topic of why women menstruate. PZ Myers tackled the evolutionary perspective first, and then I got to answer audience questions and talk a little about my own research.
Because I think it’s important for listeners and readers to see where the evidence came from to support my claims, I am sharing references (and in several cases, past posts of mine that themselves contain references). That way you can look up these articles to learn more about each topic – using Google Scholar usually turns up whatever pdfs aren’t behind a paywall.
I want to thank Desirée Schell and K.O. Myers for their great work on the show. I had a great time and think that Skeptically Speaking is a truly fantastic way to share science. Schell was a wonderful host and I hope to be fortunate enough to be asked on again.
The history of the study of menstruation
Much of what I discussed in this section of the radio show can be found on my blog post “Menstruation is Just Blood and Tissue You Ended Up Not Using.”
I also think it’s important to point out that many hypotheses developed about menstruation often forget that the monthly cycle is a very modern occurrence. Not only are modern cycles in women in industrialized populations not necessarily 28 days in the first place (in fact, see my Guest Blog post about this from December 2010), but our ancestors very likely menstruated 50-100 times rather than the 400 or so that is our norm. The reason for this is first that they probably had neutral or negative energy balances (because they moved around so much more, and likely ate less), but also because they were pregnant and breastfeeding through most of their reproductive years. This also came up in the menstrual synchrony part of the conversation later.
Additional reading:
Strassmann, B. (1997). The Biology of Menstruation in Homo Sapiens: Total Lifetime Menses, Fecundity, and Nonsynchrony in a Natural-Fertility Population Current Anthropology, 38 (1) DOI: 10.1086/204592
Birth control pills (hormonal contraception)
This topic is always very popular, and women understandably have a lot of questions about hormonal contraception. It is ubiquitous and almost expected for most reproductively aged women in many industrial, western cultures. Yet women are poorly educated on how they work and their broader effects. This leads to a lot of ambivalence about something that a huge proportion of women take every single day for decades. Two posts over at my old blog that I will eventually migrate here have some good information: “Summer of the Pill: Why Do We Menstruate?” and “Summer of the Pill: The latest fashion accessory to hit your uterus: the IUD!”
Additional reading on the history of the pill:
Gladwell, M (2000). John Rock’s error. The New Yorker. March 13: 52-63. http://www.gladwell.com/pdf/johnrock.pdf
Additional reading on the biology behind the pill:
Bentley, GR. (1996) “Evidence for interpopulation variation in normal ovarian function and consequences for hormonal contraception” in Variability in human fertility, eds L. a. M.-T. Rosetta, C.G.N. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK), pp 46-65.
Vitzthum VJ, Spielvogel H, Caceres E, & Miller A (2001). Vaginal bleeding patterns among rural highland Bolivian women: relationship to fecundity and fetal loss. Contraception, 64 (5), 319-25 PMID: 11777494
Vitzthum VJ, & Ringheim K (2005). Hormonal contraception and physiology: a research-based theory of discontinuation due to side effects. Studies in family planning, 36 (1), 13-32 PMID: 15828522
Additional reading on adolescents and hormonal contraception:
My blog post, “Why We Shouldn’t Prescribe Hormonal Contraception to Twelve Year Olds.”
Deligeoroglou (2000). Dysmenorrhea. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 900(1): 237-244.
Vihko R, & Apter D (1984). Endocrine characteristics of adolescent menstrual cycles: impact of early menarche. Journal of steroid biochemistry, 20 (1), 231-6 PMID: 6231419
Additional reading on endometrial waves:
IJland M, Evers J, Dunselman G, van Katwijk C, Lo C, Hoogland H. 1996. Endometrial wavelike movements during the menstrual cycle. Fertil Steril 65(4):746-749.
IJland MM, Evers JLH, Dunselman GAJ, Volovics L, Hoogland HJ. 1997. Relation between endometrial wavelike activity and fecundability in spontaneous cycles. Fertility and Sterility 67(3):492-496.
Menstrual synchrony
Much of what I discussed on synchrony can be found on my blog post “Do Women in Groups Bleed Together? On Menstrual Synchrony.”
Effect of diet and activity on menstruation
Strangely enough, even though this is my own field of study, I don’t have any blog posts that discuss this!
Additional readings:
Clancy KBH, Ellison PT, Jasienska G, Bribiescas RG. 2009. Endometrial thickness is not independent of luteal phase day in a rural Polish population. Anthro Sci.117(3): 157-163.
Ellison PT. 2001. On Fertile Ground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Iron-deficiency anemia
This material comes from some of my own research on iron-deficiency anemia. I discuss it in the blog post “Iron-deficiency is Not Something You Get Just for Being a Lady.”
Menstruation and… camping?
One audience member asked if it was true that menstruating women should avoid going camping because of the risk that the smell of their menstrual blood would attract bears. I found a pretty fun study in the Journal of Wildlife Management that suggests that black bears, at least, couldn’t care less if exposed to tampons, menses-soaked tampons, or women during menstruation. Scicurious was inspired enough to discuss this topic for her Friday Weird Science.
I also am planning a separate post on the idea that menstruation makes wild game run away. As it turns out, there is a very interesting anthropological history to this idea, so stay tuned!
Toxic Shock Syndrome
Additional readings:
Davis JP, Chesney PJ, Wand PJ, LaVenture, M (1980). Toxic-Shock Syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine 303(25): 1429-1435. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198012183032501
McCormick JK, Yarwood JM, Schlievert PM (2001). Toxic shock syndrome and bacterial superantigens: an update. Annual Reviews in Microbiology 55(1): 77-104.
Schlievert PM, Blomster DA, Kelly JA (1984). Toxic shock syndrome Staphylococcus aureus: effect of tampons on toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 production. Obstetrics and Gynecology 64(5): 666-671. http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/6436761
Shands KN, Schmid GP, Dan BB, Blum D, Guidotti RJ, Hargrett NT, Anderson RL, Hill DL, Broome CV, Band JD, Fraser DW (1980). Toxic-Shock Syndrome in Menstruating Women. New England Journal of Medicine 303(25): 1436-1442. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198012183032502
Reproductive cancer
Additional readings:
Jasienska G, Thune I. 2001. Lifestyle, hormones, and risk of breast cancer. British Medical Journal 322:586-587.
Kahlenborn C, Modugno F, Potter DM, Severs WB. Oral contraceptive use as a risk factor for premenopausal breast cancer: a meta-analysis; 2006. Mayo Clinic. p 1290.
Strassmann BI. 1999. Menstrual cycling and breast cancer: an evolutionary perspective. Journal of women’s health 8(2):193-202.
Detecting menses in the voice
Additional readings:
HuffPo article on women’s voices through the menstrual cycle
Thursday, February 2nd 2012
The folks at Duke University’s Women in Science and Engineering organization (WiSE) have invited me to their digs to give a talk. So, I’ll be back out in #scio12 territory next week. I arrive early afternoon on Tuesday and leave early morning on Thursday. (Maybe some locals would be interested in a Tuesday dinner meetup?)
And for any of you who would like to see the talk, it’s open to the public. I would love to see you there, and I think there is a reception planned afterwards so there will be opportunities to chat. Here are the details:
“Sex, gender and controversy: writing science as a woman”*
Wednesday February 8th at 4:30pm
French Family Science Center Room 2237
West Campus, Duke University
124 Science Drive
Durham, NC 27708
One of the things I intend to cover is my experiences as a public, female scientist, and how that identity shapes my writing. I’ll also talk about broader academic tensions between research and public engagement, and how I negotiate that with a few current research projects. Finally, I’ll ask for my audience to engage with me to think about their identities and what it is about their own perspectives that they should share with the world, to get them started as public intellectuals.
*Yes, I borrowed part of the title from my #scio12 session with Scicurious. But I decided this title was a better fit than the other I suggested to the organizer, which was “Building an evil feminist empire, one blog post at a time.”
Monday, January 30th 2012
Today I’m going to share something different with you all. Because of this blog, I get a lot of email and contact with women who have stories to tell about their experiences in science. I have heard enough of these by now, stories of harassment and assault, of belittling and being passed over, of subtle and overt sexism, that I feel it’s time to share some of them. What I’ve noticed from these stories is that some individuals, when doing field research in foreign countries, behave in ways that would be considered morally repugnant at home. My hope is that if more people see the reality of these stories, we can work towards solutions around better community monitoring, speaking up, and institutional change.
Deciding to share one’s story is a brave, and in some cases dangerous act. Therefore, in the story you are about to read, the author and I decided to change a few details to protect her anonymity.
* * *
When I began to experience sexual harassment as a graduate student, I felt I was being hazed. As one of few female students in a male-dominated field, I assumed my professor wanted to see how tough I was. I must say, I rose to the challenge. I laughed off his and other male students’ sexualized banter and came back with insults of my own in an attempt to fit in. I was a young, enthusiastic researcher and I wanted to be accepted. I interacted with my professor and male colleagues informally, not realizing how badly it could backfire. As time passed I became a target, rather than a participant in the joking.
In moments of discomfort, I kept my feelings to myself. At our research site in a foreign country, my professor and the male students often made lewd comments about the local women. One day early in my training, my professor took us on a tour of a rural town. We came across a friendly young pregnant woman and her husband. My professor chatted with the couple in their language then turned to me. In English, he commented approvingly upon the woman’s breasts. Her husband realized what he was saying and ordered his wife to cover up. The young woman quickly drew her shawl across her chest, eyes cast to the ground. My professor seemed unconcerned about the humiliation he caused them. I was put off by his lack of respect, but I said nothing. The incident has nagged at me for years.
My professor often joked that only pretty women were allowed to work for him, which led me to wonder if my intellect and skills had ever mattered. He asked very personal questions about my romantic life, often in the presence of the male students. His inappropriate behavior was a model for them, making it not only acceptable, but the norm. My body and my sexuality were openly discussed by my professor and the male students. Comments ensued about the large size of my breasts and there was speculation about my sexual history. There were jokes about selling me as a prostitute on the local market. Once I mentioned that I admired a senior female scientist and they began describing scenarios in which she and I would have sex. Pornographic photos appeared daily in my private workspace. What started out as seemingly harmless joking spiraled out of control. I felt marginalized and under attack, and my work performance suffered as a result.
Often, I was left with a pile of work at night while my professor and his male students went out to bars. They enjoyed the attention of local women, who were attracted to their wealth and prestige as foreigners. Many of my co-workers engaged in affairs with local women. On the other hand, I received unwanted attention if I went out unaccompanied. Local men would follow me down the street, making catcalls, sometimes groping me. Foreign women were often treated that way. Because of this, I became increasingly reliant on the men I worked with, though I felt nearly as unsafe at work as I did in the streets.
By the time the harassment got out of control, it was too late for me to back out. I had spent too many years immersed in the research to walk away and start over. So I modified my own behavior, hoping things might change. I dressed as modestly as possible to avoid drawing attention to my body, but the sexual comments continued. I tried dating one of the male students, thinking that if I had a boyfriend I would be protected. But the romance fizzled, leaving me more vulnerable to humiliation than before. I also tried working twice as hard as everyone else, but my professor never noticed.
I finally confronted my professor, out of desperation rather than courage. It didn’t go very well. He told me that I was oversensitive and that I kept talking like that he’d fire me. And for many reasons, mainly shattered self-esteem, I stayed. The most blatant sexual jokes and comments stopped. My professor curbed his comments out of fear of the consequences. But our relationship deteriorated so much after that conversation that he eventually revoked his promise to fund me through graduate school.
In the early days of my research I knew nothing of academic life. I didn’t realize that many research projects are run like pyramid schemes, with rigid status hierarchies, ruthless competition, the exploitation of students and objectification of women. I realized too late the extent of the strings attached to the funding my professor had promised. My education was compromised for no reason other than my femaleness.
When a professor makes the commitment to mentor a student, the student’s professional future is in their hands. This should never be taken lightly, and in the case of male professors and female students, it is crucial to maintain ethical boundaries. Women students at foreign research sites are particularly disempowered, being far from family and other support networks. This is the kind of setting in which the power imbalance between student and professor can be exploited.
I have read about sexual harassment lawsuits underway at Yale University. Some of the stories are eerily similar to mine. We start with a young, enthusiastic, intelligent woman. A male professor takes an intellectual interest in her, takes her under his wing, gives her a job and training. When the inappropriate comments start, she feels uncomfortable, but says nothing. She feels indebted to the professor, and he has promised to guide her to a successful career. She becomes deeply engaged in and committed to the research, but the professor continues to pester and demean her. She feels increasingly insecure, and she must decide whether to confront her harasser or leave the research she loves. She has to pay a price, simply for being a woman.
Someone always asks, “Why didn’t she just leave?” Well, she might not leave because she is funded, and there aren’t many other opportunities. She may be too committed to the research. She could be years into a graduate program, and changing professors would slow her progress to graduation substantially. Potential new professors will want to know why she left, and it will be difficult to answer. Others in her field will think she is an unreliable scholar for switching horses midstream. Her professor may refuse to give her a recommendation, limiting her options. She knows her life and her choices will become subject to public scrutiny. She knows that some would say that she was “asking for it.” Finally, she knows that there is a lot to be lost from standing up to an abusive professor.
What can we do about this? Individual responsibility is fundamental, and many women do set boundaries and investigate potential graduate programs for any history of sexual harassment. I wish I had thought of that. But it is not enough to place all responsibility on the would-be victims. Women students deserve to have the same learning options that male students do. In this day and age women should not have to forego certain educational opportunities out of fear of being demoralized, harassed or abused. Universities must hold their professors accountable for their actions. There must be a safe place for women to present their concerns about harassment without having to risk their futures. I also believe that professors with a record of harassment should be ineligible for research funding until they demonstrate a commitment to professional conduct.
I managed to graduate and have a great job doing research I love, but I bet a lot of women in these situations don’t. Fortunately I have discovered a community of brilliant, outspoken and supportive female scientists. If I’d had role models like them as a graduate student, things would have been very different.
To the women who have had experiences similar to mine, I hope you are healing, and I hope you consider sharing your story. And to any women who are currently in such a situation, you are not alone. Don’t be afraid to reach out for support. As I’ve learned the hard way, women in academia really need to look out for each other.
